Owen Coyle gets cold feet over Celtic job

Share via

Owen Coyle is poised to pledge his future to Burnley and take himself out of the running to become the new manager of Celtic. The Times can reveal that the 42-year-old Scot has decided to pursue his ambition of managing in the Barclays Premier League, resisting the lure of the club he supports.

Sources close to Coyle confirmed last night that the highly rated manager will stay at Turf Moor. That will disappoint Celtic, who had put the Coyle at the top of their list of potential recruits to succeed Gordon Strachan, who quit on Sunday after four years at the Glasgow club.

Coyle was locked in talks yesterday with Barry Kilby, the Burnley chairman, about his future. Kilby had been keen to offer his manager an improved contact as a reward for taking Burnley into English football’s top flight after a 33-year absence and to ward off predators, like Celtic.

Coyle is is due to receive a £1 million bonus for guiding Burnley to promotion from the Coca-Cola Championship into the Barclays Premier League, where the modest Lancashire club will earn at least £60 million in revenue. Coyle feels that he has to show loyalty to Burnley for taking a chance on him 18 months ago when he was at St Johnstone, but is also fiercely ambitious and wants to experience management in the world’s most sought-after league after defeating Sheffield United on Monday in the play-off final at Wembley.

Despite intense media speculation in Glasgow that Coyle would be unveiled tomorrow as Celtic’s new manager, Burnley insisted yesterday that Celtic had made no approach for their man.

“Contrary to widespread speculation, Burnley Football Club has not received any official approach from Celtic for the services of manager Owen Coyle,” a club statement read. “Nor will the club welcome any approaches for Coyle, who remains under contract at Turf Moor.”

Coyle twice missed out on the chance to join Celtic during his long playing career — while he was at Bolton Wanderers in 1994 and Dundee United in 1997 — and embracing the managerial role at Celtic Park would have gone a long way to compensate for that.

However, his soaring stock after Burnley’s run to the Carling Cup semi-finals when the Lancashire club knocked out Fulham, Chelsea and Arsenal along the way, as well reaching the last 16 of the FA Cup in his first full season in charge, has persuaded Coyle that, for now, his future lies in England.

That decision will probably disappoint some Celtic players. Coyle’s captain at Turf Moor, Steven Caldwell, is the brother of Gary, the Celtic and Scotland defender, and that meant that Burnley’s exploits were on the radar in the Celtic dressing room.

“We have kept a close eye on Burnley this year as well because of Gary Caldwell’s brother, so we’ve been hearing about Burnley for the last 12 months,” Scott McDonald, the Celtic striker, said yesterday. “We have seen a lot of them on television and they played some great stuff at times. It’s not for me to comment on who’s going to be the next manager — it’s not my decision.”

Coyle’s desire to remain at Burnley will now see Celtic pursue other candidates in the hunt for Strachan’s replacement, with Tony Mowbray, of West Bromwich Albion, perhaps edging to the top of the list. However, Slaven Bilic, the Croatia coach, now seems to have entered the contest.

Bilic would welcome talks with Celtic, according to his agent, Rudi Vata. The former West Ham United and Everton player is still under contract with Croatia but is looking for a new challenge, according to Vata, a former Celtic player himself. “Slaven is certainly available to talk to Celtic but we have not heard anything,” Vata told BBC Scotland.

“He would be keen for a new challenge and is well aware of the club and the passion of its supporters. He thinks he could take Celtic to the next level. We will wait and see.”